Free Speech
Image
IRS retaliation, incompetence show why it shouldn't get donor identities, nonprofits tell judges
IRS can't even explain why it needs donor identities to do its job and has terrible track record, diverse nonprofits tell 6th Circuit. It hid leak from victim Young America's Foundation until nearly a year after contractor's conviction.
Image
Supreme Court urged to stop protecting 'incompetent and malicious' bureaucrats from liability
Qualified immunity, with no legislative basis, helps censorious "desk-bound bureaucrats" more than police in split-second decisions, Institute for Justice says.
Image
New Jersey bureaucrats censor 'Christian grandma' for asking constituents about taxes: lawsuit
School board member challenges the Garden State's interpretation of the School Ethics Act to prohibit routine communication with constituents about anything a school board might consider, such as tax increases, consolidation.
Image
Appeals court bans punishing students for using 'biological' pronouns: not disruptive, harassing
Full 6th Circuit overturns panel on party-line vote, says students use correct pronouns for gender-confused peers because "there is no practical alternative" to compelled affirmation of what they hold to be a lie. Dissent compares to f-word.
Image
City council chills public comment by banning criticism, requiring home address: lawsuit
"Up until recently, meetings were livestreamed and posted online, forcing citizens to broadcast their home addresses to the public," followed by threats, harassment and Satanic Temple correspondence, law firm says.
Image
'All they did was wear wristbands!' Judges question school district's ban on 'XX' at girls' games
Most Democratic federal appeals court doesn't want gender identity protests to escalate at school games, but panel isn't impressed by district's explanation for censoring parents without any plausible disruption.
Image
Ninety-four percent of sanctioned scholars suffered from free speech attacks
Survey by FIRE talked with scholars “targeted for sanction because of their speech between 2020 and 2024.”
Image
Jailed a month for anti-Trump meme, ex-cop's charges dismissed after sheriff admits no threat
Tennessee law passed in wake of school shooting used against self-proclaimed "a--hole" who posted Trump quote about school shooting in Charlie Kirk vigil Facebook group. Sheriff's office allegedly refuses records request.
Image
Moms for Liberty activist beats defamation suit by DEI employee over 'woke,' 'white savior' jabs
Wisconsin appeals court saves Scarlett Johnson, three years later, from "costly, pointless, and incoherent" trial over whether she implied "undisclosed defamatory facts" about a onetime social justice coordinator in hyperbolic posts.
Image
After SCOTUS ignores 'only two genders' censorship, appeals court upholds 'Let's Go Brandon' ban
Divided 6th Circuit panel created two splits with other appeals courts, which invites SCOTUS review, on how to treat "political speech expressed through facially non-obscene apparel" and "ambiguously lewd" speech, dissent says.
Image
Judge blocks sanctions on boys who objected to female in locker room, rejects district's Hail Mary
Northern Virginia school district refuses to show judge the boys' locker room recording made by female student who identifies as a boy, which it repeatedly cited as evidence against the boys. It falsely calls female "male."
Image
Democrats' hypocrisy on federal pressure to censor frustrates effort to stop Trump saber-rattling
"It begins with censorship, it moves to the destruction of statues and monuments, and it ends with the murder of people," CEO of demonetized conservative publisher tells lawmakers at hearing on how Biden "jawboned Big Tech."
Image
Fired women's coach saw male player 'wink' at opponent after endangering female teammate: lawsuit
Melissa Batie-Smoose sues San Jose State, says male coaches repeatedly favored transgender player Blaire Fleming, who is male, while punishing females. She witnessed Fleming "fail to block" for co-captain who talked about Fleming's sex.